Alexander Povetkin Rejects ‘Lucky Punch’ Talk, Focused On Whyte Rematch

Alexander Povetkin has rejected suggestions his emphatic knockout of Dillian Whyte was lucky and insisted he is focused on a rematch with Whyte rather than fighting the heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

“It was perhaps the best shot of my career. I haven’t watched the fight back, haven’t seen it,” Povetkin said, according to Danny Armstrong. “We worked on that shot in training. People can think what they want whether it was a lucky punch or not. There’s that many experts in boxing that I already don’t know what to say about it all!

“Right now I have a rematch, I’m not thinking about [who I will face next]. What can I say about [Tyson] Fury? He’s a strong, skilled boxer, maybe not as technical as [Anthony] Joshua, but I can’t say anything bad about him.”

Povetkin was joined by his promoter, Andrey Ryabinsky who also shut down talk of a lucky punch, he said.

“If he hadn’t work on it in training, then it was a lucky punch. But he did, so there was nothing lucky about it,” Ryabinsky said.

The World of Boxing CEO went on to explain why he had negotiated a rematch clause in the fight contract with Whyte.

“The rematch clause is common in such fights,” Ryabinsky said. “It was written in the contract. If we agreed, it means we have a reason – because we wanted the rematch. Initially, the WBC ruled the fight would determine a number one contender between these two, so the rules of the game have changed a little. We don’t know yet [if the winner will get a title shot], we’ll sort that out, we’ll see.

“Why did we want the rematch clause? Because first and foremost, we need to look after the interests of our boxer. For Povetkin, he has the chance to earn decent money out of the current situation and if we have a chance to do that for our boxer, of course we will do that. Being the number one contender is never easy. It could last for a year or even two. Fighting now is also a must. That’s the case in a few words. The matter is a lot deeper and a lot more complicated but that’s our position.” (Transcribed by Boxing Scene)

Do you think Alexander Povetkin was lucky against Dillian Whyte?